An India-born German national and a lawyer have teamed up to help the growing number of adoptees who come to India in search of their roots

Mohua.Das@timesgroup.com

David Kildendal Nielsen, a 40-yearold bond trader in Denmark was sitting at home when a photograph popped up on his computer screen last June. It was of a young woman with two toddlers by her side. The woman was David’s birth mother, Dhanalakshmi, who is now 68 and works as a cleaner in Chennai, and the other child was his brother that he never knew he had. The six-year-long search by David, born Santhakumar before he was adopted at 16 months from an orphanage by Danish parents, culminated in a meeting a fortnight ago. “We did face a language barrier but to see her, talk to her, and feel her touch was a moment I’d been longing for, and it was mind blowing when it finally happened,” recounts David.

That reunion may never have been possible if David, in despair after hitting a series of blind alleys, hadn’t turned to Arun Dohle, an India-born Germannational and an adoptee himself, and Anjali Pawar, a human rights lawyer and activist, to help him with the search. “I had almost given up after four years of getting nowhere. Then I met Arun in Denmark and he, along with Anjali, was instrumental in me pursuing the search. Finally, one day someone reached out to him with a picture of my mother,” adds David.

The duo, who has spent close to two decades building a network of lawyers, child rights activists and trusted contacts in adoption agencies across the country, have orchestrated as many as 48 reunions between adoptees and their birth families. More recently, they set up an Adoptee Rights Council — a comprehensive search service to provide on-ground assistance to people adopted from India find their Indian roots. They are also lobbying for legislation that makes it obligatory to make all adoption records accessible.

Vice President Pence, Secretary Azar commemorate National Adoption Month

November 12, 2019

The 2019 class of recipients of adoption excellence awards were announced today at a HHS ceremony as part of National Adoption Month. Vice President Mike Pence, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Assistant Secretary Lynn Johnson and other leaders addressed adoption advocates, parents and others in the field this morning in the HHS Great Hall.

The adoption excellence awards, given each year by the Children’s Bureau at HHS’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF), recognize individuals, families and organizations that have demonstrated excellence in making contributions to providing permanency for children in foster care.

The awardees were announced and honored during today’s event, where the vice president and secretary expressed the Trump administration’s support for efforts to find permanent homes for children in foster care.

The new dad must go with it

A woman from Frankfurt brought a child from Africa. However, the adoption did not recognize the OLG Frankfurt, because her husband was not present on site. This contradicts any principles of child-friendly procedures.

The biological father had approved the high court of the West African state positively - and yet the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt does not accept the adoption of a girl from Africa by a couple in Frankfurt. Since the husband of the accepting couple was not present at the decision of the court in Africa, the adoption process violates the ordre public international - ie against international values. The child's welfare was so disregarded in the local proceedings that it would not be possible to heal the violations, the court ruled in a decision now published (v. 24.9.2019, Az. 1 UF 93/18).

The woman had taken the girl from a West African state shortly after birth while she was in the country. The biological father had consented to the custody transfer and stated that the mother had died soon after birth. So the high court of the country decided that the couple should adopt the little girl. However, the husband had never seen it before.

Strong contradiction to the German legal system

TERRE DES HOMMES RESEARCH ON ILLEGAL ADOPTION IN BANGLADESH ALMOST COMPLETED

In its broadcast last Sunday evening, Nieuwsuur paid attention to abuses in adoptions from countries in Southeast Asia and the responsibility of the Dutch government. Terre des Hommes Netherlands investigates her role in Bangladesh at the time. This investigation is almost complete.

In 2017, Terre des Hommes conducted an investigation into the information available within the organization regarding adoptions from Tongi, Bangladesh during the period 1976-1982. This research was set up so that we, but also the adopted children and their families, can better understand what happened then. We also hope to bring details to the table that can help the adoptees in their search for their family.

Our research is being analyzed by an external researcher from Maastricht University and is in the final phase. Terre des Hommes will share her findings with those involved.

Dutch

A woman from Frankfurt brought a child with her from Africa. However, the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court does not recognize the adoption that took place there because her husband was not present. This contradicts all principles of child welfare-oriented procedures.

The biological father had agreed, the High Court of the West African state had ruled in favor of the decision - and yet the Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Frankfurt does not recognize the adoption of a girl from Africa by a Frankfurt couple. Since the husband of the adopting couple was not present when the court in Africa made its decision, the adoption process violates the ordre public international - in other words, international values. The child's welfare was so disregarded in the local proceedings that it was not possible to remedy the violations, the court ruled in a decision now published (dated September 24, 2019, ref. 1 UF 93/18).

The woman had taken the girl from a West African country in shortly after her birth while she was in the country. The biological father had agreed to the transfer of custody and stated that the mother had died shortly after the birth. So the country's High Court ruled that the couple could adopt the little girl. However, she had never seen the husband before.

Strong contradiction to the German legal system

A notorious South Korean facility that kidnapped, abused and enslaved children and the disabled for a generation was also shipping children overseas for adoption, part of a massive profit-seeking enterprise that thrived by exploiting those trapped within its walls, The Associated Press has found.

The AP, which previously exposed a government cover-up at Brothers Home and a far greater level of abuse than earlier known, has now found that the facility was part of an orphanage pipeline feeding the demand of private adoption agencies.

Relying on government documents obtained from officials, lawmakers or from freedom of information requests, the AP uncovered direct evidence that 19 children were adopted out of Brothers and sent abroad, as well as indirect evidence showing at least 51 more such adoptions. The adoptions AP found took place between 1979 and 1986.

Choi Seung-woo, a victim of Brothers Home, speaks during an interview in front of National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. (AP)

There were probably many more adoptions over the three decades that Brothers, the largest facility of its kind in the nation, was in operation, but the full extent will likely never be known.

"They just sold us"

"Adopt a child from abroad", they said, "Then you can give it a better life". Thousands of children from Indonesia found their way to the Netherlands, but they were simply stolen and sold. The Dutch government knew about it. Dewi Deijle was one of those children and has written a book about this issue: "Postpackages from Overseas".

"Ze hebben ons gewoon verkocht".

''Adopteer een kindje uit het buitenland", zeiden ze, "Dan kun je het een beter leven geven". Duizenden kinderen uit Indonesië vonden hun weg naar Nederland, maar ze waren gewoon gestolen en verkocht. De Nederlandse overheid wist ervan. Dewi Deijle was èèn van die kinderen en heeft een boek geschreven over deze kwestie: "Postpakketjes van Overzee".

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It has been two years since actress Mandira Bedi is waiting to officially adopt a daughter. She already has an eight-year-old son and wishes to have a sister for him. She and her husband applied at the CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority), the central adoption agency under which any adoption across the country takes place – without any success so far.

Mandira Bedi is only one among many across the country who wish to adopt a child, and who face major obstacles.

Prospective adoptive parents in India have two legal possibilities to adopt a child: either under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, or irrespective of their religion, via the CARA, the primary facilitator of adoption. After registering online and uploading the relevant documents to an adoption agency, a social worker will draw up a home study report. The home study report is supposed to be completed within thirty days from the completed registration and remains valid for three years. Mandira can only hope that her application gets processed before she has to undergo another report.

A Child Cannot Be Given To An “Inferior” Family

Mandira and her husband could at least apply for adoption, in contrast to homosexual or unmarried couples. Same-sex marriages are not legal in India, therefore homosexual couples are not allowed to adopt a child together. The law debars the LGBTQIA+ community from adopting children together – demonstrating that homosexual couples still aren’t equal before the law. Reinstating Article 377 may have decriminalized homosexuality in India, but Indian mindset is still stigmatising LGBTQIA+ couples, as the statements of an officer of one of the five oldest adoption communities of Karnataka prove.

HIV-positive parents sold the 22-day son to a couple for ?1.1 lakh

A 22-day-old boy child was sold by its HIV-positive and poverty-stricken parents at Manapparai in Tiruchi district recently.

The Tiruchi Rural Police have arrested three persons — an intermediary and the couple who had bought the child, paying ?1.35 lakh.

The action was initiated based on a complaint preferred by the District Child Protection Officer to the Manapparai police station on Thursday.

The incident came to light when the baby was admitted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi with fever on Wednesday. According to hospital sources, the baby was found to be “critically underweight” and the “mother” was asked to breastfeed the infant. “But the mother said she could not. When coaxed, she divulged that the baby was not hers. They could not produce documents for adoption too. Hence, the matter was reported to the Childline,” a medical officer said.

Kozhikode: Seek and you shall find! A young Italian woman of Indian

origin did so and located her mother. Thus Navya Sofia Dorigatti, 35,

finally had her wish fulfilled. The Italian national's mother had

abandoned her at an orphanage in Kerala's Kozhikode district 35

years ago soon after she was born.